heya guys and welcome to another chapter of The Agent Next Door :) I kinda have a feeling that this one is going to be a bit on the short end like the last one, sorry about that. I've noticed this tends to happen particularly before larger more plot-heavy chapters. Hopefully, that's not too annoying lol X'D all the same I hope you enjoy the chapter. Fair warning it's a bit of a roller coaster chapter.
Song Suggestion: Dancing with your Ghost by Sasha Sloan
Disclaimer: heya if you're 24 chapters in, /o/I hope you know I don't own anything and that I'm not affiliated with CapCom. it's a sad reality but I mean hey if they're hiring for writers hit me up X'D
March came to a close and led into April. Cold rain became warmer as spring was in full swing. Emma made her way from the parking garage towards the apartment complex. "No mama, that's not it." She stopped as the woman on the other end of the line talks. "Of course! I'd love to see you guys; I know it's been a while. It's just things are really busy right now."
She remained silent as she listened to her phone and walked up to the main door of the building, entered and made her way up the stairs. "I mean, yeah, June is a few months out. I suppose I can talk to my boss about it if it's just a Friday and Monday off..." she agreed as she headed into her apartment, pacing while continued talking on the phone.
"What?" Emma asked, surprised, then stopped pacing and held her face. "Gosh dang it Chel," she whispered away from the phone. "Nothing! Nothing, yeah. I'll ask him but no promises. Besides, don't you think this is kind of much? Like. I dunno, maybe a face time would—" Emma tried to suggest but stopped speaking and started pacing again. "No, I'm not hiding things from you."… "Mom." … "Okay. You're right. I'll try and call more often..."
"Congrats again on retirement," Emma said with a slight smile. Even if the conversation took of a stressful turn, it was still good to talk to her mother. "Love you too. Talk to you again soon," Emma said as she walked over to her couch. "'Kay. Bye." With that she hung up and flopped onto the couch to bury her face in a pillow. It took her a moment, but she eventually rolled to face the ceiling and held up her phone, so she could tap at the screen
[Emma] You told my mother. Really? Are we twelve now?
[Chelsea] Hey, it came up on its own. How was I supposed to know you weren't telling your parents? OH WAIT! You didn't even tell me. -grumpy emoji- I found out when you showed up for Summer's birthday, and he had an arm around you.
[Emma] Look. Fair enough but come on. Did you have to tell mom?
[Chelsea] Karma's a hoe.
[Emma] Yeah it is, cause apparently now mom wants him to come with for the family beach trip she invited you, Jack, and the kids to.
[Chelsea] Well... shit.
[Emma] Enjoy your karma. I have a very awkward conversation ahead of me.
[Emma] If he does go, could you at least try to get along? I get that you don't like him, but I do.
[Chelsea] -No talk me im angy cat gif-
[Chelsea] Fine... but I don't want to hear it if I end up being right about him.
[Emma] Deal
She shook her head and put her phone down on the coffee table, so she could grab the pillow behind her and press her face into it. Good god, this was just a mess. Okay, take a breath. I can do this. It's not that bad. She was extremely irritable right now, but an agreement had been reached. Just don't send messages for a bit to avoid being snarky, Emma thought while trying to figure out how she was going to bring up that her parents wanted Chris to fly down with her so they could meet him. It was a wee bit soon in her opinion. Sure, they were more or less comfortable with private displays of affection now, but they weren't really publicly affectionate. Maybe that would change by June but most likely not.
Emma eventually put the pillow back and got up to look over to the kitchen, staring at the calendar on the fridge. April 4th, a Thursday, but Chris was away on a mission again and only just left a few days ago. "Well, at least I scheduled tomorrow off..." Emma said with a slight frown. It had been a year, and she hadn't been able to get herself to visit since then... She gave a tired sigh and started her afternoon routine – make food, feed Duke, take Duke for a walk, relax with a movie in the background while sorting through emails. One more quick walk, then bed.
Despite taking the day off, Emma woke up at her usual time, walked Duke, took a shower, made breakfast, fed Duke. The cycle broke as she started packing up a small backpack with a tablecloth, some snacks, and a sandwich among other things. "Okay Duke, I'll be back in . Be a good boy while I'm gone, all right?" she requested as Duke walked over to the couch and climbed up to take a nap. Emma chuckled at this. "Good boy," she said before heading out and locking up behind her.
"Emma dear, are you not going to work today?" asked Mrs. Russo as she and her husband walked over.
"Mr. and Mrs. Russo. It's good to see you," Emma said with a smile. "Yeah, I'm taking the day off to visit a friend and have a picnic," she replied with a nod.
"How lovely. It's beautiful outside for one," Mrs. Russo commented. "Marco, perhaps we should do the same and go on a picnic after we get back."
The man chuckled at that. "My love, you would have had to start packing yesterday," he teased before coughing.
"Are you feeling all right?" Emma asked, concerned, but he waved it off.
"Just a cough," he said after catching his breath.
"We're getting it looked at today. You've had that cough all winter..." Mrs. Russo said with a worried expression.
"I see. Well, I hope all goes well, and you get a clean bill of health," Emma said with a sympathetic smile. "Next time I plan on going for a picnic I'll let you guys know, so we can go together," Emma offered, which caused Mrs. Russo to smile.
"That would be lovely, I did enjoy getting to go to the park with everyone last summer. We'll have to do that again," Mrs. Russo replied with an excited grin. "I'll try not to hold you up too much longer. We both have places to be. Have a good day dear."
"Of course! Have a good day," Emma replied, patiently walking behind the couple as they slowly made their way down to the ground floor and out to the sidewalk. Emma headed to the garage and got into her car to drive out of town and down the highway a few exits. She made a stop at a grocery store to pick up a few things before pulling into the parking lot of a cemetery. It took her a while, but eventually she found the place, or rather person she was looking for. A grave marker with the name Tanner Penmark etched into it.
"Hey Tanner," Emma said quietly to the marker as she put down the backpack and took out the tablecloth. Once it was properly spread out, she sat down on it and reached over to get her bag, which she set down next to her. "It's been a while, huh?" she asked while setting out the items she had brought with her – snacks, some lunch, a box of tissues just in case, and a bouquet of flowers. "It's not much but, I brought you something. Sorry, it's taken me this long..." Emma said as she picked up the flowers, then leaned forward to put them down by the marker. As expected, there was no reply. She sat back once the flowers were properly settled and gave a quiet sigh.
Digging into her bag, she pulled out a clipboard of paperwork to go over. While she read it, she continued to talk to the grave marker, telling it all the things that had happened over the last year, venting about frustrations, laughing at silly memories, and just chatting in general. Tanner never replied, but it was cathartic in its own way to just have the time to speak. To have the words go out into the ether and let them go. Occasionally she'd pause to use a tissue to wipe away a stray tear, but overall, the visit was pleasant.
She eventually ran out of snacks as she got to the bottom of her stack of work. The last thing she had to work on was the apartment bill for April.
[Would you like to request a renewal document? Yes [ ] No [ ] ] The bottom of the bill asked among other questions such as 'if yes, then how long would you like to renew for?' and 'if no, what day do you expect to move out?'
Emma smiled and checked yes, requesting another one-year lease. "It's not much but, I'm happy," Emma said with a tired but genuine smile as she looked at Tanner's marker. "I'm not sure if you're a spirit, in heaven, or just gone... Wherever you are, I hope that you know that, and you're happy for me too."
Little did she know, the casket below her was empty.
'*'*'*'*'
Another three weeks passed. Emma had submitted her new lease paperwork, which would allow her to stay for another year. She got a fair bit of work done and Chris had returned once more.
Chris sighed quietly as he filled out his paperwork. There was another stateside outbreak. A small one, so it didn't catch much attention. It looked like another emergence of the Glenn Aris virus, but they couldn't find the source. Last time it was water and gas, but they had tested that. The water was clean and there didn't appear to be anything in the area or the victim's hotel room that would release a gas. He grumbled in frustration before checking his phone. Thursday, April 25th, 5:32 pm. He put the phone away and packed up. It was earlier than most days, but he tried to head out at a more decent time on Thursdays.
Once he made it home, he had a quick bite to eat and sent Emma a text.
[Chris] Hey, ready when you are.
[Emma] I'll be right there.
Emma sighed after sending her reply. She had been putting off asking him about the whole family trip thing. Granted, it helped that he hadn't been around to ask, but the longer she waited, the harder it would be for him to actually be able to go if he wanted to. She gave herself a tiny pep talk before patting her face. She could do this. She nodded, then headed over to Chris' place and knocked on the door.
Chris answered it a few moments later and let her in. "Hey."
"Hey," she replied with a chuckle then gave him a quick kiss. "How was your day?" she asked as she started moving the table out of the way.
"It was work," he replied with a snicker, shaking his head then closing the door. "And yours?" he asked before heading over to get the now very worn-out mat, which made a half-hearted flop sound as he put it on the floor. It had given up the ghost long ago.
That poor mattress, Emma thought, trying not to laugh. "It was good. It's Friday eve after all," she said with a smile. Just one more day until the weekend.
"You know, I don't think that's how that works," Chris said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.
"Shh let me have this one," Emma replied with a chuckle before continuing. "Before we get started"—Emma bobbed her head while trying to think of the right words—"how would you feel about going to the beach in late June?"
The question was surprising. They weren't exactly close to a beach. "I haven't been to the beach in a while," he admitted with a shrug. "Why do you ask?"
Here we go. "I got a call from my mother recently. She and Dad are retiring, so they wanted to get the family together for an extended weekend vacation," Emma explained, hoping to ever so cautiously ease into the subject. "I completely understand if you'd rather not, but she wanted me to extend an invitation for you to come with as well."
"Oh," Chris replied as his shoulders dropped. Well shit. "Where is it?" he asked, not rejecting the idea outright. Emma dug out her phone and looked up the address before offering him the small device. Chris accepted it and scrolls around. It was pretty close to where Claire was staying these days. He could possibly visit her if he went with Emma. It would at least be a decent escape route if he needed it...
"That's pretty close to where my sister lives. I've been meaning to make plans to visit her... Maybe we can figure something out," Chris offered as a middle ground, handing the phone back to Emma. He wasn't sure how comfortable he'd be with staying the whole time, but by late June they would have been seeing each other for half a year, so a vague introduction and confirmation of his existence seemed fair.
"Sounds like a good idea," Emma agreed with a shy but enamored smile. He was trying and it was appreciated. She put the phone away before joining him on the mat and getting into a ready stance. "Ready?"
Chris nodded and got into his own ready stance. "Let's get started." The routine picked up as they went over punches and kicks and even added in a few kneeing parts to the warm-up routine. They went over disarming as Chris decided to expand her practice since they didn't seem to be stopping. The more scenarios she was ready for, the better off she'd be. Ten minutes of warm-ups, fifteen minutes of disarming, and on to the usual pins and holds.
Hold, break, pin, break, hold, break, pin. They were about fifteen minutes into this portion of practice. Behaving during practice had gotten roughly ten times more difficult thanks to the events of last month, but he did all the same. Most of the time.
He got her leg tangled with his to make it more difficult for her to get out before giving her a peck on the cheek. The wiry stubble tickled, causing her to giggle. "Aren't you usually the one that says, 'don't get distracted during training,'" Emma pointed out with a hint of a smirk. She gave him a peck in return while still trying to think of a way out of the pin with only one leg.
"True," he replied, smiling back. "Suppose we call it in early?" he suggested as he shifted his hold on her.
"I dunno. We still have"—she leaned to try to see the clock from where she was—what is that? Oh no. Nah-uh. Tap out, tap out, tap out. She repeatedly patted his shoulder. "Chris move. Chris move, please," Emma said as she stared up at the spider that was directly over them, very slowly lowering itself down from the ceiling. Noooooo.
While highly confused by the sudden panicking, Chris quickly got off and looked around for what was freaking her out so bad, only to see the quarter coin-sized spider dangling in the air. "Please tell me that's not why you were panicking..." Chris tried to hide his amusement as he watched Emma speedily move away from the area where the spider was.
"What do you mean? Of course that's why I was panicking. It was going to land on my face," she rebutted with a pouting frown.
Well, there goes that mood. "What happened to the fearless Emma that laughed in the face of zombies back at the haunted house," Chris asked with a laugh as he walks over to the kitchen to get a paper towel.
"Zombies aren't real. Spiders are, and they're demonic spawns of hell," Emma said with a chuckle, moving away from where the spider landed.
The statement made Chris pause, but he eventually walked back over with the paper towel and picked up the spider to crush it in the towel. "There, taken care of," he said as he threw away the crumpled paper towel.
"My hero," Emma jokingly cooed before quietly laughing. "Well, I suppose since we're calling it early for training, I should go," Emma said with a playful smile as she walked to the door. Chris strode over and snaked one arm around her waist as the other reaches out to keep the door from opening. He wasn't really sure how to go about this.
"... Stay?" he hesitantly requested, taking his hand off the door to keep from trapping her, in case she'd rather leave.
"Okay," Emma replied with a soft smile as she leaned back to gently kiss his neck. Being around him made her heart feel full. It wasn't much, but she was happy.
I'm gonna go run and hide in a bunker while I write the next chapter. Toodles. x'D there was a request for another 'bit o spice' so hopefully I was able to provide that XD i am really not an intimacy writer so hopefully that worked out and the request was fulfilled X'D
Review Responses:
InkScribble - oh nooo not the diabetes, hopefully this chapter provided a bit of a cleanse. XD things are about to pick up again.
Guest1995 - lol just a lil bit of heat X'D I'm too shy to write much more than that.
